Washington Post -- Christopher E. Murphy grew up in Virginia and played high school football without his glasses, although that probably left him unable to see 10 feet in front of him, his coach recalled last night.

Sometimes it seemed that a ball carrier would slip by unseen, said John Earich, assistant head football coach at William Campbell High School in Campbell County, Va. But Murphy was a hard worker and "just a bull on that line" and often reached out at the last moment to bring down an opponent.

Pfc. Christopher E. Murphy, 21, was one of three soldiers from the Army's 10th Mountain Division who were killed Saturday in Al Taqa, Iraq, when their patrol was attacked with explosives and automatic weapons, the Pentagon said. [See story, A10.]

The Defence Department listed his home town as Lynchburg, Va., but those who knew him said he came from the rural Gladys area of Campbell County, which borders the city.

As a junior, Murphy was a substitute on his school's 2002 state championship football team, but through will and effort, Earich said, he became a starting defensive tackle the next year. With 13 victories, that team went to the state semifinals, Earich said. Murphy, who knew nothing about the game when he first went out for the team, "was a big part of that," Earich said.

As a freshman, Murphy was asked in a history class for a brief biography, Earich recalled. In it, Murphy wrote that he liked video games, games of strategy such as chess and games that involved combat. With characteristic seriousness, Murphy also wrote, "I don't have a dog."

"He was just a sweetheart," the Rev. Nancy Purcell, who knew him from childhood, told Christa Desrets of the Lynchburg News & Advance newspaper.

"He was just one of those kids everyone enjoyed being around," said Assistant Principal James Rinella. "A very hardworking kid, a very humble kid."